Cenotaph
by JenniferRSong
Summary: On a far flung world, a child visits a memorial dedicated to the last of the Time Lords. Post WoRS.
1. Chapter 1

Just something quick I whipped up. Please enjoy.

Summary: On a far flung world, a child visits a memorial dedicated to the last of the Time Lords.

Spoilers: Post "Wedding of River Song"

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who. I don't even own the name Jarras, I just thought it sounded like a really cool name for a planet.

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Snow blanked the ground as the child walked a steady beat, the sound of crunching underfoot loud in the night. The sun had fallen only an hour before, but already the temperature was beginning to drop below freezing.

It had been a ritual of her people for the last century. This day, one hundred winters ago, the planet of Jarras had received a message: The Doctor, the Last of the Time Lords, was dead. The one who had intervened and prevented a civil war, brought peace back to Jarras, was gone.

She stumbled a bit as her boot caught on a branch. Her mother would fuss at her for being out after dark, but she was 11, she could take care of herself. She drew her coat even closer to herself.

The memorial wasn't big, only about a meter tall and half as wide. The words on it were as familiar to her as her own name.

_**The Doctor**_

_**Last of the Time Lords**_

_**Died: aged 1103**_

_**Location: Sol III**_

There weren't any other mentions of his life, where he'd been born, or even how he'd died. Only this simple memorial, with its simple writing that conveyed so much more.

It had become a tradition over the years for someone to stand watch at the memorial every year, but since nothing had happened since she'd been born, the tradition had fallen by the wayside and now the memorial had vines and stuff growing on it. Typical, she thought, gets inconvenient, and everyone thinks someone else can do it.

She was brought out of her musings by the sight of someone standing at the memorial. For a moment, she thought about turning around, since someone else had made the effort this year, even cleaned it off. Only a moment though as curiosity won out and she hid behind the closest tree.

His back was to her. He was young, she could tell from the back of his head. Dark, thick, brown hair. His shoulders were sloped, as though there was a heavy weight upon them, a curious contradiction. He wore a jacket made of what looked like tweed. His dark pants and boots just didn't suit a person who would stand watch.

He sighed, the sound loud in the quiet forest.

"I know you're there," he said, just loud enough for her to hear. "You can come out, I don't bite."

Eyes wide, she slowly walked into the open. "Er, hi?"

He turned to her and she drew in a quick breath. Green eyes, impossibly old but still twinkling, peered into her pale blue eyes. His face was long, his chin funny-looking. His hair flop nearly covered one eye. A black bowtie had bits of white snow dotting it.

"Of course, if you ask my wife, she might say differently."

She didn't know what to say except–

"You're not from around here, are you?"

He chuckled. "No, no, I'm not. If I told you who I was, you'd never believe me. But what's your name?"

"Leya."

"Well, nice to meet you, Leya. What are you doing out here after dark?"

He motioned to a nearby stone bench and they sat down, facing the memorial.

She nodded at the memorial. "No one's been coming down here for years. I was gonna start coming last year, but Mum found out."

He raised one, well, sorta eyebrow. "You're not supposed to be here, then?"

She squared her shoulders. "I'm eleven now, I can handle it."

He laughed. "You remind me of someone I used to travel with, Amelia, her name was. She didn't like it when people tried to tell her she was wrong, even when she had proof she was right."

"What happened to her?"

He smiled. "She's home, she's safe. Married too, I suppose I need to pop by and say hi sometime." He leaned over and whispered, though why she didn't know, they were alone in the woods, "They are my in-laws now, after all."

She gaped at him.

There was silence, broken only by the sound of the strange man using his feet to play with the snow.

"Speaking of family, you'd better run home. You're gonna be in enough trouble anyway."

She wrinkled her nose. "Mum's gonna be so mad."

He patted her head. "She's a good mum, I'm sure she'll be ok."

"Can't you come with me? Explain to her?" Her eyes were wide.

He shook his head. "No, Leya. I've got to get going. Things to do, people to visit, planets to explore. Maybe another time."

She nodded. The two stood and departed, the child going back the way she'd come, the man taking a different route to a nearby bright blue box, hidden from passers-by.

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Second half coming soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Enjoy.

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_Ten years later_

There was going to be an early spring this year, Leya thought. Temperatures were already beginning to climb into the low fifties (Fahrenheit). The snow left over was gray and mushy and she had a hard time keeping herself upright.

Only feet from her goal, she failed to notice a slippery patch and would've fallen had someone not grabbed her arm.

"Whoa!"

Finally regaining her footing, she looked up to the face of her savior. And gasped.

"You!"

It was the strange man from all those years ago. But he looked almost exactly the same. That flop of hair had been cut back some, the black bowtie for an electric blue one, the tweed traded for a military green overcoat.

He chuckled. "Here, Leya, have a seat."

Gently, he guided her toward the same bench they had sat on ten years ago. She couldn't do anything but stare at him.

"I bet you're wondering how many years have passed and why I look almost the same, hmm?"

She wordlessly nodded, mouth in an o-shape.

"I told you, ten years ago, that you wouldn't believe me if I told you who I was. Do you still want to know?"

She swallowed and glanced at the memorial. "I think I already do. Doctor."

_That_ surprised him.

"After that day, I looked up the stories. Stories that the Doctor was a time-traveler, that he'd married and died on the same day. By the same woman, no less."

He stayed silent.

"But then I remembered what you said, that you had a wife and in-laws and I reckoned you wouldn't have lived to 1103 without having _some_ kind of trick up your sleeve."

He regarded her with a curious eye. "If you've figured it out, those that arranged that meeting might very well know too."

She shook her head. "I doubt it. I wouldn't have thought anything about it if I hadn't seen your ship for myself."

He frowned at her. "But you left. Went in the other direction."

She chuckled. "I got far enough away so you wouldn't see me, then followed you. You heard me the first time, 'cause I didn't know you were there." She smiled as she remembered the amazement on her face, seeing the strange man duck into the even stranger box. "Mum was angry when I got home, until I told her about seeing the blue box. She told me never to tell another soul what I'd seen. I never did."

They sat there in silence, until–

"Sweetie, we're not gonna make that light showing unless you – oh, hello."

The new woman had a mess of blonde curls, and she was wearing a thick off-white jacket and brown pants. On her hip was a gun, still holstered, that she tentatively went to at the sight of Leya.

"I thought you said we were alone."

It wasn't so much a question as a pointed statement.

"River, Leya. Leya, River."

"Sweetie, why are you–?"

"Leya was here ten years ago, tending to my memorial," he said, inclining his head to the young woman. "It's ok, she's ok."

Relaxed, River withdrew. He sighed.

"I'd better get going. She's right, that light show only happens once a millennia and I distinctly remember her saying that if we didn't go to this one in particular, there would be a temporal calamity."He snorted. "When's that new for me?"

Leya giggled. With a wave, the Doctor disappeared. Through the branches, she caught a peek of brightest blue. As the old ship began to fade away, she closed her eyes and listened to what many described as the greatest sound in the universe.

And they were _so right_.

_END_

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Please review. It would make my day.

–Jennifer R. Song


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